The present invention relates to an enclosure or container and methods for forming the same. Particularly, the present invention relates to a disposable and/or reusable enclosure formed of plastic material and methods for forming the enclosure.
Different types, styles, and constructions of containers have long been known and used in the past. Likewise, many different materials have been used in the manufacture of containers. For example, the common paper bag, comprised of four side walls, and a bottom wall formed from overlapping and glued flaps of paper, is a well-known construction eminently suitable for its purpose. Cardboard containers, such as boxes, are also quite common and have been provided in various configurations and constructions for a variety of purposes. Plastic containers, such as bottles for containing liquids or thin film plastic bags for disposing of trash, are likewise well known and variously constructed and used. Containers formed of plastic material have significant advantages in comparison with prior paper or cardboard containers. For example, plastic containers are strong, resilient, long-lasting, and inert to most items disposed in the container. They are also suitable for containing and confining fluid materials. Additionally, plastic containers may be currently produced at extremely low cost and may therefore constitute throwaway or disposable items after use.
Common plastic containers of the thin film type, however, have significant disadvantages in comparison with paper or cardboard containers in that the latter are generally self-supporting or freestanding in their intended shape. On the other hand, containers formed of thin plastic film are generally not capable of assuming or maintaining a predetermined shape. Additionally, thin film plastic bags or containers are well known and commonly used by themselves without any supporting structure. However, because these bags are not self-supporting or freestanding, great difficulty attends their filling in the absence of an ancillary support structure. For example, thin film plastic bags are commonly used for disposing of leaves. However, filling these bags with leaves or even maintaining the bag open for filling purposes is difficult because the bags will collapse absent a supporting structure. Thin film plastic bags thus do not have shape-retaining characteristics.